Life preserver



Dec. 12, 1961 J. F. MOONEY 3,012,257

LIFE PRESERVER Filed Nov. 28, 1958 INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,012,257 LIFE PRESERVER John F. Mooney, Rte. 1, Box 169, near Sonora, Calif. Filed Nov. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 777,153 4 Claims. (Cl. 9-333) The present invention relates to life preservers including a V-shaped, forwardly pointing, breast plate adapted to cut through the water and a cap for the users head together with strap means limiting the forward movement of the cap so that the users head is held high out of the water in the event of exhaustion.

The invention will be more fully described in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a life preserver constructed in accordance with the invention, the cap and strap mounting therefor being removed to facilitate understanding;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the life preserver of FIG. 1 including the cap and strap mounting therefor;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the breast plate;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the life preserver, in use, showing a users head being maintained in erect position out of the water; and

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4 and shows the freedom of movement permitted by the life preserver to facilitate swimming with the breast plate cutting through the water.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1, the numeral 2 identifies a V-shaped, forwardly pointing, breast plate which may be constituted by any buoyant member such as a hollow plastic piece. The breast plate 2 has secured to it strap means 1 to enable the breast plate to be connected to the neck of the user. At the rear of the breast plate is mounted a plurality of laterally spaced rings 3, these rings being intended to receive the forward end of a life preserver body 4 which is desirably dimensioned to extend to the users waist.

The life preserver body 4 is constituted by a plurality of parallel inflated tubes 10 which are maintained in position by interconnecting means such as the web pieces 11 which are positioned at the rear of the tubes 10. Each tube 10 includes a snap fastener element 12 at its forward end to provide a separable structure which is easily assembled by simply snapping the fastener elements 12 to the rings 3.

It will be observed that the breast plate 2 is hinged and capable of pivotal movement with respect to the body 4 of the life preserver.

The inflated tubes 10 are desirably inflatable as by using the valves 7 which are positioned at the rear of the tubes 10. In this way, the user may adjust the buoyancy of the body 4 to match his Weight.

The body 4 is intended to be secured by strap means to the user in the vicinity of his waist. For this purpose, a back strap 5 is secured to the rear of the body 4 and a buckle 6 is provided so that the back strap 5 may be passed around the back of the user and adjustably connected with the buckle 6.

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The numeral 13 designates a ring secured to the strap 5. As can be seen in FIG. 2, a cap-supporting strap 14 which carries a rubber cap 8 is attached to the ring by a fastener 15.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, the user rests upon the body 4 and the cap 8 is positioned on the users head and secured to the body in a manner which limits its forward movement with respect to the body. Thus, when the user puts the cap on his head, he cannot drop his head into the water because dropping the head requires a forward movement of the top of the head which is secured within the cap 8. By properly positioning his chest and waist upon the body 4, e.g., by moving forwardly or rearwardly, the user can determine the limit of the downward movement of his head.

The swimming action permitted by the life jacket is illustrated in FIG. 5.

A preferred breast plate structure is depicted in FIG. 3.

The value of the life preserver of the invention in the event of shipwreck or accident at sea will be self-evident.

The invention is defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A life preserver comprising a buoyant body underlying the chest of the user and terminating at the waist, and a buoyant, forwardly pointing, V-shaped breast plate intended to underlie the face of the user, the rear of said breast plate being hingedly connected to the forward end of said body, back strap means for securing said body to the waist of a user, said back strap means being secured to the rear of said body, and said life preserver including a head-supporting cap carried by strap means connected to the rear of said body to limit the forward movement of said cap with respect to said body and thereby hold the head of the user out of the water.

2. A life preserver as recited in claim 1 in which said body is constituted by a plurality of parallel inflatable tubes interconnected at the rear thereof, said inflatable tubes being provided with valves at the rear end thereof.

3. A life preserver as recited in claim 1 in which said strap means carrying said cap is fastened to said back strap means.

4. A life preserver as recited in claim 1 in which strap means adapted to encircle the neck of a user are secured to said breast plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 635,069 Angevine Oct. 17, 1899 1,094,538 Davis Apr. 28, 1914 1,366,345 Bailey Jan. 25, 1921 1,653,974 Walcher Dec. 27, 1927 2,021,713 Borino Nov. 19, 1935 2,046,335 Manson July 7, 1936 2,313,151 Johnson Mar. 9, 1943 2,623,574 Damsch Dec. 30, 1952 2,717,399 Backhouse Sept. 13, 1955 

